Shiseido to Expand Bare Escentuals Into Brazil

Posted: December 13, 2011

Starting in May 2012, Shiseido will commence sales of the bareMinerals brand of its North American subsidiary Bare Escentuals, Inc. into Brazil via Shiseido’s wholly owned subsidiary, Shiseido do Brasil Ltda. In addition to the Shiseido brand targeting the prestige segment, bareMinerals has a strategic role to tackle the country’s rapidly growing entry-prestige segment with its unique value of natural and mineral origin. Product sales will be carried out through e-commerce and retail sales, including standalone bareMinerals boutiques, with the aim of achieving 100+ stores handling brand products over the next five years.

This will be the first time for bareMinerals to be marketed in South America and is a direct result of the Shiseido Group’s strategy to realize synergy between its global portfolio management and Bare Escentuals.

Following the commencement of sales via a distributor in 1996 and establishing the wholly owned subsidiary Shiseido do Brasil Ltda. in 2000, Shiseido is currently selling its global brand Shiseido prestige cosmetics at approximately 140 cosmetics specialty stores in Brazil.

On the back of overall stable economic growth, Brazil has seen a steady rise in the middle-income group, which has stimulated consumption and contributed to double-digit growth in the beauty market in the past few years. Market scale has expanded to ¥2.4 trillion yen, achieving third place in the global beauty market, ranking after the United States and Japan. Also, supported by such active domestic demand along with dramatic social changes, Brazil became top in the world in terms of social networking services (SNS), with approximately 90% of Brazilians active on at least one social network.

Since acquiring Bare Escentuals, the Shiseido Group has actively embraced a growth strategy to further develop the international business of bareMinerals by leveraging its expansive global network. Regarding Brazil, however, not only can bareMinerals be marketed through the existing Shiseido sales network, but it matches current market needs in that consumers are actively upgrading from the mass to entry-prestige segment. Brazil is also a prime market in which to leverage its SNS marketing expertise, which is recognized as a leading force in the United States.